Jarallah Ibn Al Cadhi Amin Ed-din Ibn Dhahira... Lot n° 35

Recueil des douces vertus de la Mecque et de ses habitants et construction des lieux-saints /Al- Jāmiʻ al-laṭīf fī faḍl Makkah wa-ahlihā wa-bināʼ al-Bayt al-Sharīf, imprimerie Īsá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Shurakāh 1st edition, 1340h (1922), Misr. In-12, paperback, 413p, in Arabic, advertisements for the printing house and for a bookseller in Mecca (Muhammad Said and Abdul Rasul Fada). The printing house and publisher "al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī" was a family business founded in Cairo in 1859, and made a specialty of printing many unpublished manuscripts from the Arab world. The author, a Meccan by birth, lists all the Koranic verses referring to Mecca and its inhabitants and the virtues associated with them, then delivers a meticulous description of the various monuments of the holy places. He discusses the various expansions of the masjid al-haram up to 980h (1572). He is particularly interested in the Kaaba, its history and foundation from pre-Islamic times to the advent of Islam, and mentions some of the historical monuments of Mecca's urban planning that are little described in the texts, notably the cemeteries, mosques, houses and its geography (mountains...). It is one of the most important bibliographical references in the literature of the Hedjaz on the history of Mecca in the 16th century, and an important source of Meccan testimonies at the beginning of Ottoman domination. Ibn Dhahira (986h/1578) came from a dynasty of Meccan scholars that included cadis, muftis, ulama and historians. Born at the beginning of the 10th century A.H., endowed with a solid education, trained by illustrious sheikhs and a rich erudition in many fields, he acquired the status of a moral and religious authority in his time, being appointed Hanafi mufti of Mecca until his death.